14 May, Military hospital, City K

Matthew walked into their shared ward and spotted two men sitting there.?He looked at them carefully, and then remembered that the psychiatrist yesterday told him as part of his six-monthly psychological review they wanted to speak to Lexi both with and without him being present.

Ignoring them for the moment, Matthew moved over and gently leaned over and kissed Lexi on the lips before pulling back slightly and looking at her directly in the eyes before saying "Are you alright?"

"Panicking a little?"

"No, just worried about you, given what happened."

"Stop being rude.?These gentlemen want to talk to us."

Watching Matthew, Lexi say that he turned and finally sat down while acknowledging the men, before saying "Gentleman."

"General," one said.?"I am Colonel Fung, and this is my colleague Lieutenant An.?I think you know why we are here."

"My six monthly psychiatric and psychological review?"

Hearing that Lexi was shocked.?They told her before that they were here to help her.?"That is not what you told me," came her angry statement.

"Madam Rong, we were sent here as part of a team to provide support for the victims of the attack in City F.?What we told you, therefore is correct.?We are here to help you and the other victims.?It just happens that we were asked also to perform the General's six-monthly review.?It would be inappropriate to force him to the capital for the review, given your current situation."

Lexi looked at Colonel Fung and Lieutenant An.?While what they said felt truthful there was something not quite right.?She turned to Matthew and said with a slightly angry undertone "You should have told me."

"And worry you too much??Not going to happen.?But I did say I was admitted to, in part keep me away from things currently, to be with you and for some required reviews.?This just happens to be part of it."

Lexi looked at Matthew, and she could see the moment he realised that she was not only angry but upset that he could not be honest.?With everything they had talked about the last couple of days, this felt like a slap in the face.

"B*stard, you lied."

Matthew closed his eyes for a couple of seconds to help him calm down.?Lexi was highly annoyed with him, and in that moment, he realised he deserved her anger.?The one thing they promised each other yesterday after all their discussions was not to continue to hide the truth.?Hiding the truth had caused them so many problems that already made their marriage fragile.

Opening his eyes, he reached over and gently took her hand, stroking the fingers before saying "I am sorry.?I just figured that you would assume that the reviews would include more than my physical status, given you know my posting."

Lexi knew that Matthew was right.?He had talked about a review and she was aware of his posting so it should not have come as a surprise that his review would include multiple assessments.

Shaking her head gently Lexi said "We both made some assumptions, you that I understood what your reviews would include and me that you had told me all the specifics about it.?We both agreed that we would be open and honest because we have realised the impacts of not doing so.?But do not take that to mean I want to know everything about everything in your life.?I am not stupid as I realise there are things because of your work that you cannot tell me and do not presume that you will.?Other than than.."

"You need me to be clear and honest."?Matthew stroked her fingers again and said "I apologise, I should not presume that you know exactly what I mean.?I will try not to do it again."

"That is all I can ask, Matthew."

"General, Madam Rong," interrupted Colonel Fung.?"I can see there are some things we need to discuss.?General, depending on what this is, you are aware of the potential consequences."

"You delay in signing off on my review or a worst-case scenario you provide a report that impacts or has my clearance revoked."

"Not what we were going to say."

Lexi watched Matthew turn and say "Colonel, you just heard the discussion I had with my wife.?You think I want to lie about the potential consequences of your review, simply to appease you.?Not going to happen, because another piece of information that could result in confusion is not going to happen.?You and I know there are three outcomes from your review.?I pass it with flying colours and easily retain my clearance.?My clearance confirmation is put on hold by you delaying signing off on the review.?That you be because you want more time to investigate including performing various additional tests, or because you want me to work through things before finalising signing off.?The final option is I fail and either my clearance is reduced or totally revoked which will impact my deployment."

"General.."

"Colonel, no.?I have reviewed many reviews for my subordinates clearance and know the what is in them, sometimes leading me to make hard calls.?You might want to express it in different words, but that is the outcomes.?And as I said, I will not lie about the consequences of this."

Lexi, sensing the firmness in Matthew, added "My husband is right.?We, like any married couple have our issues, many of which have come to ahead in the last week.?But we made a promise to each other that we were not going to lie about thing to each other.?It is the only way to deal with those things."

Looking between the two of them Colonel Fung looked to Lieutenant An, before turning back and saying, "We will continue this discussion, but we need to discuss matters."

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